Tin miracle from the 90s in the historical centre of Olomouc

A pair of metal garages shine silvery in Olomouc’s Horní náměstí. However, the striking object, which evokes strong emotions from passers-by, is not the solution to the lack of parking spaces in the Hanseatic capital. It is an installation by Slovak artist Ilona Németh and architect Marian Ravasz called Handiwork, which is part of this year’s SEFO Triennial 2024.

Portable metal garages based on East German fabric models became an iconic business project of the 90s in Ružomberok, Slovakia. Thousands of these cocoons flooded the local housing estates. Although they protected the tin darlings from the rain, they did not prevent frost and heat. The rounded tin cans hiding cars became a punchline of normalisation DIY, which in this case mutated into a successful business venture.

Not to the car park, but to the town hall.

The very location of Handiwork in Olomouc has a touch of artistic performance and bureaucratic absurdity. Originally, the Museum of Art planned for the objects to occupy two parking spaces on náměstí Republiky, where a large car park operates next to the valuable Baroque fountain. The aim was to clearly communicate and provoke a discussion about the suitability of locating the car park in the historic centre of the city. But artists and curators are changing their minds and officials are changing their minds.

After an unexpectedly negative opinion from the city’s conservationists, the town hall management offered the site in the very heart of the listed centre – right next to the town hall, near another baroque fountain. The buildings, teetering on the edge of sci-fi utopia and urban kitsch, have thus acquired another interesting context.

In museums and public space

The SEFO Triennial 2024 presents contemporary Central European art both in its Olomouc buildings of the Museum of Modern Art and the Archdiocesan Museum. However, it also places artworks in public space. Whether it is the Upper Square, where Handiwork stands, or the Memorial to the Women Who Cooked Salt. The latter was also created by Ilona Németh together with Marián Ravasz and stands on the Square of National Heroes (temporarily renamed the Square of National Heroes and Heroines).

Translated with DeepL.com